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The Celtic Way of Seeing: Meditations on the Irish Spirit Wheel
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	Natural Health and Healing In the Wise Woman Tradition Part 3 by Susun Weed SusunWeed.com
Astrology, Tarot, and Self Improvement for the New Age.

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Natural Health and Healing
In the Wise Woman Tradition
Part 3
by Susun Weed

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Month Four * Growing * Plantago

Plantain, the plain plant, grows invisibly underfoot in parks, playgrounds, driveways, lawns, even paths through open woods throughout the temperate regions of the Earth. She is lying in wait for you, waiting for you to recognize her virtues and befriend her.

All parts are useful: especially seeds, roots, and leaves. The leaves are renowned for their ability to ease stings, itches, sprains, itches, skin irritations (including eczema) and itchy bites. I use the fresh leaves, quickly chewed and applied directly. Children call her the "bandaid plant."

Those allergic to bees and wasps swear that a timely application of plantain leaves will save them from adverse reactions to stings. For winter use, I make an ointment by pouring room temperature olive oil over a jarful of coarsely chopped plantain leaves; let it sit for six weeks (no sun!); strain, and melt with beeswax. It is unsurpassed for soothing diaper rash, dry lips, bruises, and - you guessed it - itches!

Month Five * Enduring * Symphytum

Is she an evil witch or a tender healer (of bones, tendons, ligaments, lungs, throat, vagina, guts, and skin)? Like the women she has long been associated with, comfrey has a mixed reputation. I use lots of comfrey leaf, brewed as a strong infusion (put one ounce dry herb in a quart jar, add boiling water to top, cap tightly, steep overnight); but I rarely use comfrey root - if for no other reason than that comfrey will colonize the garden if her roots are disturbed.

The healing agents in comfrey are concentrated in the petiole, or leaf stalk, and the flower stalk. Cultivated comfrey has sterile flowers, so I harvest while it's flowering, cutting leaf and flower stalks near the ground and hanging them individually in a dark, well-ventilated place to dry.

As I write this in the Catskill winter, a steaming cup, enlivened with a pinch of mint sits by my elbow. Oh comfrey the comforting, you cunning witch, how I adore you!

Month Six * Flowering * Hibiscus

One of my favorite daily practices is to find and eat some wild food, no matter where I am, city or country, home or far away. I like to nourish all that is wild and natural, real and earthy in me. Sometimes I have to resort to dried wild seaweed, but most of the time I can find fresh wild plants. If I'm lucky, I get to eat flowers.

In tropical regions, the many-colored hibiscus blossoms offer themselves abundantly. At home, the closely related weedy mallows have much smaller flowers, but are just as delicious, as are the wild (and cultivated) hollyhocks, with their large, tasty, magnificent blooms, and the late-blooming Rose of Sharon, the northern hibiscus.

What hussies these flowers are, sticking their tongues out, oozing with nectar, fragrant, and dusted with fairy glitter! What healers they are as well (leaves, too) with their ability to soothe and cool and provide generous amounts of antioxidants (vitamins C, A, and rare minerals).

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Enchanted Spirit assumes no liability for health care recommendations or treatments discussed by individual authors whose work is published on our website.

The information here is offered to help in your research and investigation of possible ways to manage your own health care issues. Common sense as well as solid professional advice from your own trusted medical care specialist or personal holistic health care practitioner should always be part of managing your health care choices.

Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.

Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at SusunWeed.com

Susun Weed is a contributor to the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women's Studies and the author of four highly acclaimed herbal medicine handbooks. She has been at the forefront of the herbal renaissance for 35 years.

By Susun S. Weed, author and herbalist. Write to: susunweed@hvc.rr.com for permission to reprint this article.

Visit Herbal Medicine and Spirit Healing the Wise Woman Way. For 500+ pages of women's health articles, recipes, and women's wit and wisdom.

Visit Breast Cancer? Breast Health! the Wise Woman Way. For women who want to maintain breast health and for women diagnosed with breast cancer. This site is designed with the purpose of empowering women in their health care choices.

Visit Menopause Metamorphosis. Gentle solutions for body, mind, and spirit: alternative approaches, herbal remedies, wise woman support. Your body knows more about menopause than your doctor does!

Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to replace conventional medical treatment. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, condition or symptom. Personal directions and use should be provided by a clinical herbalist or other qualified healthcare practitioner with a specific formula for you. All material on this website/email is provided for general information purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation. Contact a reputable healthcare practitioner if you are in need of medical care. Exercise self-empowerment by seeking a second opinion.

I never even thought about whether or not they understand what I'm doing . . . the emotional reaction is all that matters as long as there's some feeling of communication, it isn't necessary that it be understood.
~ John Coltrane ~
Born September 23, 1926

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Enchanted Spirit is a non-denominational spiritual center of healing, support, self-improvement, personal guidance, education and writing. We publish multi-media works of New Age thought and information to encourage serenity and growth in individual life choices, advance the universal search for life's meaning, and promote tolerance for positive ideas from all philosophies and religious traditions, believing as we do that truth is where you find it.

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Last updated April 7th, 2004

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Planets in Retrograde -- The Basics
By
Rebecca Brents

Astrology is for Believers.

With an open mind and a knowledge of Astrology you can watch your life unfold in ways that make sense.

You can understand the demands of change and "what's really going on" in a crisis.

Whether in a gentle push in the right direction or in a "hard knock upside the head," you can read the message behind what life is asking of you.

Real Astrology ...
for people who take
their lives seriously.

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The MediterrAsian Way: A Cookbook and Guide to Health, Weight Loss, and Longevity
By
Ric Watson, Trudy Thelander